IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Program in Intellectual Property Law will launch its 2014–15 BookIT intellectual property book talk series on September 8, 2014 with a discussion of two groundbreaking books on innovation and intellectual property in Africa. Programs in the series, which are free and open to the public, will be held at the law school, 565 West Adams Street (between Clinton and Jefferson streets) in Chicago.

“Our BookIT talks are designed to present new and thought-provoking work by authors and researchers in the area of intellectual property, law and technology, or the Internet,” said IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Edward Lee, director of the Program in Intellectual Property Law. “We are pleased to have Professor de Beer as the inaugural speaker for our series.”

November 10, 2014
Suffolk University Law School Professor Jessica Silbey on The Eureka Myth: Creators, Innovators and Everyday Intellectual Property (forthcoming Stanford University Press, 2014)

February 23, 2015
Washington University at St. Louis Professor Neil Richards on Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age (forthcoming Oxford University Press, 2014)

April 2015
Professor Irene Calboli of Marquette University Law School and the National University of Singapore on Identities, Interests, and Intersections (Irene Calboli & Srividhya Ragavan eds.) (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Not really exactly IP, but really important to understand the essential idea behind how computers work.

“Claude Shannon is the most important man you’ve probably never heard of. If Alan Turing is to be considered the father of modern computing, then the American mathematician Claude Shannon is the architect of the Information Age.”

“The country is getting less entrepreneurial. In aggregate, firms are aging. People are starting fewer new businesses, and older businesses are doing better than their younger competitors. For all the talk of “disruption” in today’s economy, it is better to be a big, old incumbent dinosaur than it is to be a lean, mean start-up.”

“In a complaint filed in Delaware federal court, Bose claimed that Beats’ “Studio Wireless” and other brands infringe on five patents related to noise canceling technology, and it is seeking damages and an injunction to stop Beats from selling the headphones.”

“a new NBER working paper* by Alberto Galasso of the Rotman School of Management and Mark Schankerman from the London School of Economics has found that the patent system is curtailing this tradition of progressive innovation…Critically, the authors report that this effect varies widely between fields. For patents in ‘complex’ fields, where products rely on numerous patents, including electronics, IT and biotechnology, subsequent citations more than tripled after a patent was invalidated. However, for ‘non-complex’ fields, in which the average product only embodies a few patents, the effect was insignificant.”

“…the European Union is trying to “claw back” food names that Americans consider generic but which Europeans believe should only apply to products made in specific bits of their continent. That includes feta, Parmesan and maybe even bologna.”

“In a new paper Sotiris Vandoros of the London School of Economics looks at what happens when patents expire in two important classes of drugs: ACE inhibitors, used to treat blood pressure, and proton-pump inhibitors, such as omeprazole. He tracked sales of these drugs after patents expired in six European countries between 1991 and 2006, measuring the switch both to generic drugs and to related but still patented compounds. “

“This is a particularly threatening form of counterfeiting for Keurig. Like printer companies with their inkjet cartridges, Keurig’s business model is built on selling machines cheap and then reaping huge profits on the refills. Now, bereft of a legal monopoly on pod making, Keurig is trying to establish a technological one: its new brewer, which goes on sale this fall, has a mechanism that scans each pod for Keurig’s markings and locks out any unapproved capsules. It’s essentially digital rights management (DRM) — a mainstay in music and video — adapted for coffee.”

“…Tesla has been able to secure loans against its patent assets. That is something it could not have achieved if its lenders did not see value in its portfolio. As such, it seems a little disingenuous for Tesla’s CEO to suggest that patents are holding businesses back. Ultimately, Tesla has been able to leverage its patents to raise cash and to create the foundations for a new market for its products and services.”

“This event will celebrate IIT’s imprint on innovation at this seminal event where attendees can meet and network with alumni from around the world. Important topics such as energy, intellectual property, and innovation will be presented by distinguished alumni in an open forum that fosters collaboration in a collegial atmosphere that is uniquely IIT.”

“It’s pretty disappointing. My initial reaction was almost why did they bother? What they’ve essentially done is say that this is Bilski plus a computer and that doesn’t make these claims any more patentable but we knew that already. The Federal Circuit is split because it has not been getting clear guidance on what an abstract idea is and the Justices still haven’t provided that guidance. I guess the silver lining is that they’ve followed the Hippocratic oath and done no harm.”

“Patent attorneys have been watching the case to see how the PTAB would conduct live testimony, but there were few surprises on Tuesday. The questioning and testimony of inventor Kevin Orr closely resembled that of a standard courtroom proceeding.”

“No one, it is said, knows more about the buying and selling of pre-owned Hermès bags than Matthew Rubinger, Heritage’s Birkin whisperer. But now Mr. Rubinger, 26, has left for another more famous auction house — Christie’s International — and the battle of the Birkins has begun.

“If Musk had wanted to make a more powerful statement about the pointlessness of patents then he would have given Tesla’s up; or, as this blog by law firm Downs Rachlin Martin pointed out, promised not to use them even for defensive purposes. But he didn’t. Tesla still owns a big patent portfolio.”

“Whatever the outcome of the current rights of publicity litigation, the NCAA may expect to face antitrust scrutiny on a number of fronts. This is as it should be. While the organization clearly yields efficiencies that benefit consumers (such as establishing and overseeing rules and standards for many collegiate sports), its inherent temptation to act as a classic cartel for the financial benefit of its members will not disappear. Indeed, its incentive to seek monopoly profits may rise, as the money generated by organized athletics and related entertainment offshoots continues to grow. Accordingly, antitrust enforcers should remain vigilant, and efforts to obtain NCAA-specific statutory antitrust exemptions, even if well-meaning, should be resisted.”

“Okay, headphones. But headphones have been around for so long,” TJ Grewal, Beats’ head of product, told The Verge. “Why now? Why did it happen? Why Beats?” The answer is a combination of branding and big sound that comes directly from the founders’ experience crafting records — and shaping artists — for a mainstream audience.”

This 2013 article is required reading for a textbook example why a small company needs to understand its intellectual property rights.

“Monster received some money as part of the breakup—more severance payment than cash-out—and Beats walked away with everything: all of Monster’s audio work, every single patent, the trademarked design, and more than anything else, the name.”

“The declared enforcement approach does not seem less pretentious. Irrespective of a trade mark’s distinctive function, for instance, the IP Manual alleges that simply writing “Brazil 2014” with a standard font and with no device element on a t-shirt would be the subject of legal proceedings as leading consumers to establish an unlawful association with FIFA’s tournament.”

“Inter partes review has become a popular, powerful tool for patent defendants. In many cases, it allows the defendant to get the expensive district court litigation stayed in favor of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s more focused and more economical validity review.”

“Attorneys representing student athletes who claim Electronic Arts illegally used their likenesses in the company’s popular NCAA Football, Basketball, and March Madness video games will receive nearly $1,000 per appearance in a game from EA. The settlement will amount to a total of around $40 million.”

$25 or $35 for non-member students. Plus all non-member students receive a one year LES student membership

“This one-day course provides a survey of the basics of intellectual property (IP) and licensing. It builds a practical understanding of core IP and licensing concepts from both the business and legal perspectives. Each course, taught by both legal and business experts working as a team, is divided into five topics with examples, exercises and interaction between instructors and fellow students. Topics include: Introduction to IP; Basics of IP Commercialization & Licensing; Determining Reasonable License Fees & Royalty; Managing Risks; and a Licensing Case Study.”

Post navigation

Recent Posts

IITIPMM Blog is an online community for IAM students, alumni, and professionals to share their knowledge and interests related to intellectual asset management. Edited by Nick Hoeffler and Kelly O'Neill. Reader contributions are welcome.